Ollie's back from the vet...and Stewie hates him

[Hellojosie]

Ollie had to have a little stay at the vet yesterday for a few hours...he had a 105 degree fever and wasn't eating, so they had to hook him up to an IV and replenish his fluids. Thankfully after a couple hours his fever went down and I was able to pick him up. When I brought him home however, our other cat, Stewie, wanted nothing to do with him. Every time he gets near Ollie he growls & then hisses and runs away.

While these cats have never been the best of friends, they have never actually growled and hissed at each other. Ollie is usually the more dominant one being 2 years older than Stewie. Should I assume that Stewie's reacting to Ollie's "sick" scent? Or the scents he picked up while at the vet's for 6 hours yesterday?

I just hope they start to get along again soon. It was nerve wracking enough with Ollie being so sick, I don't want to deal with a mean, aggressive cat now too!

[moosmom]

It's normal. Somehow the kitty at home can sense the "medical scent" that the other cat has. It'll go away, just give it some time. You might want to rub down Ollie down with a dryer sheet. This will help with static cling (honest!!) and also leave a nice fresh scent on him.

[Hellojosie]

Yea, we were hoping that after a couple days the "vet smell" or the "sick smell" on Ollie would go away, and that seems to be what happened. Funny you mention the dryer sheet trick though, because we actually did that! My boyfriend thought it might help too. By Sunday both kitties were back to normal- a bit standoffish with each other (as usual), but no more hissing & growling from Stewie!!

[Babyboonie]

That's great news....you have two kitties that get along again...plus one of them smells real nice!!

[ValorousFlame777]

Angel, my kissy kissy gray tabby girl, who never wants to share her Mommy anyway, is like this with any of my kitties who comes home from the vet. The kitty who's been to the vet still smells like the FEAR they were feeling, and there's also the residual smell of blood and sickness from being handled by the vet, also. Remember how sensitive those kissable little noses are. I'd rub the homecoming kitty with catnip instead of a dryer sheet! How popular do you think they would be THEN?

[nekohead]

Mandy is the hisser and growler. Mouse NEVER does that to Mandy when she comes back from the VET.
I got to the point of taking them BOTH to the vet even if only ONE of them needs it.